Electrical connector for coaxial cable

ABSTRACT

An electrical connector for a coaxial cable. The connector body contains a longitudinal bore which receives one end of the coaxial cable. Teeth which face inwardly towards the bore are slidably movable in the connector body at right angles to the longitudinal bore and are driven into the cable to make contact with the outer conductor of the cable by the rotation of a screw which is operatively connected to the teeth.

United States Patent [191 Horak [451 Sept. 17, 1974 ELECTRICAL CONNECTORFOR COAXlAL CABLE [75] Inventor: Martin S. Horak, Morganville, NJ.

[73] Assignee: Gamco Industries, Inc., Roselle, NJ.

[22] Filed: May 29, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 364,725

[52] US. Cl 339/97 P, 339/177 R [51] Int. Cl H0lr 9/08 [58] Field ofSearch 339/95, 97-99,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,706,282 4/1955 Dudra339/97 P Nepovim 339/177 R Prodel 339/98 Primary Examiner-Joseph H.McGlynn Attorney, Agent, or FirmBrumbaugh, Graves, Donohue & Raymond [57] ABSTRACT An electrical connector for a coaxial cable. The connectorbody contains a longitudinal bore which receives one end of the coaxialcable. Teeth which face inwardly towards the bore are slidably movablein the connector body at right angles to the longitudinal bore and aredriven into the cable to make contact with the outer conductor of thecable by the rotation of a screw which is operatively connected to theteeth.

6 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR FOR COAXIAL CABLEBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention is an electricalconnector and, more particularly, an improved electrical connector for acoaxial cable.

A need exists for a simple and efficient coupling device for coaxialcables which have an inner centrallylocated conductor surrounded by athickness of dielectric material, which in turn is surrounded by anouter conductor that can be of the braided or foil type, and an outercovering of dielectric material. Although many types of connectors existfor connecting such coaxial cables to an instrument chassis, anotherline or a similar cable, they have a number of disadvantages. Someconnectors now in use employ a large number of parts and are ofrelatively complex construction and are hence, expensive to manufacture.The strength of grip afforded by some of the connectors now in use hasalso been found to be insufficient to prevent separation by relativelysmall axial forces. Sometimes when the cable is under tension, theconnection with the outer conductor of the cable tends to tear the outerconductor, thereby producing a weak mechanical grip and a poorelectrical contact. Another significant disadvantage with someconnectors now in use is the need for preliminary preparation of thecoaxial cable before the cable may be inserted within the connectorbody. Such preparation commonly means exposing the center conductor ofthe coaxial cable for a short distance. Many connectors now in use alsorequire that the outer jacket or insulation be removed to a certaindegree to expose the outer conductor before a good electrical contactcan be achieved.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of this invention is to provide asimple electrical connector having an improved mechanical and electricalconnection to coaxial cables which provides a strong grip on the cableand a positive electrical connection thereto, yet which requires onlyminimal cable preparation.

The foregoing and other objects are attained in accordance with theinvention by the provision ofa connector body having a longitudinal boretherein to accommodate the end ofa coaxial cable, a set of slidablymovable. contact means facing inwardly towards the bore and which areadapted to pass through the outer dielectric of the cable and to makecontact with the outer conductor of the cable, and drive means whichmove the contact means inwardly into the longitudinal bore and intocontact with the outer conductor of the coaxial cable.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The present invention will be furtherunderstood upon a consideration of the following detailed descriptionofthe presently preferred embodiment when taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. I is a perspective view of a device containing three connectorseach made according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a bottom plan view of the device shown in FIG. 1 taken alongline 2-2 in FIG. 1 in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 3 is a top view, partially broken away, of the device shown in FIG.1 taken along line 3-3 in FIG. 1 in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the device shown in FIG. 1 taken alongline 44 in FIG. 1 in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view, partially broken away. of the device shownin FIG. 1 taken along line 55 in FIG. I in the direction of the arrows;and

FIG. 6 is an enlarged sectional view of the inwardly facing teeth andscrew means utilized in the connector.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT FIG. 1 is a perspective view ofadevice utilizing three connectors, each made according to the presentinvention. It will be readily apparent to a person in the art that otherdevices utilizing a differing number of incoming or outgoing coaxialcables may use the connector described and claimed herein.

Each connector comprises a connector body, indicated by referencenumeral 11, having a longitudinal bore 12 formed therein to accomodateone end of a coaxial cable 13, which is shown in phantom. The coaxialcable, as best shown in FIG. 6, includes an inner conductor 14, an innerdielectric l5 surrounding the inner conductor, an outer conductor 16surrounding the inner dielectric l5, and an outer dielectric 17surrounding the outer conductor 16. The inner conductor 14 of the cableis connected to appropriate conventional electronic circuitry 18 insidethe device shown in perspective in FIG. I by means of appropriatecontacts 14. Insulation 20 prevents a shorting or grounding of the innerconductor 14. The connector of the present invention includes simplemeans to achieve a good ground connection for the coaxial cable 13 aswill now be described.

The connector of the present invention includes contact means 21 whichface inwardly towards the bore 12 and which in the preferred embodimentare two separate spaced-apart sets of teeth 21a and 21b, as best shownin FIGS. 5 and 6. The contact means 21 give a good ground connectionwith the outer conductor 16 of the coaxial cable 13. The contact means21 are slidably mounted in a bore 22 which can be generally at rightangles to the longitudinal bore 12 holding the coaxial cable. Drivemeans 23, which in the preferred embodiment is a screw, are provided toallow for the movement of the contact means towards the bore 12. Thecontact means 21 are supported by a common flange 30 which is bent atright angles to the contact means and are slidably mounted in a slot 26which goes completely around shank 24a of screw 23 to allow for therotation of the contact means 21 in bore 22. If desired the two sets ofcontact means 21a and 21b can be integral with one another and flange30. The points of the contact means 21 are preferably arranged in aplane which is substantially parallel to the longitudinal bore 12.

The connector of the present invention is quite simply utilized. Thefirst step is the insertion of the suitably prepared coaxial cable 13into the longitudinal bore 12 and the connection of its inner conductor14 with the appropriate electronic circuitry 18. when this has beenaccomplished the screw head 24 is rotated, thereby driving the screwshank 24a downwardly. The contact means 21, situated adjacent to thelowermost end of the shank 24a, slidably move in the slot 26 in shank2441 as the screw is turned but retain the orientation shown incross-sectional views in FIGS. 5 and 6 due to the narrow width of bore22 which prevents their turning. They are driven downward by the actionof the screw ing operation until the points of the contact means 21 aredriven through the outer dielectric 17 and into secure engagement withthe outer conductor 16 of the cable 13. The screw 23 can be dimensioned.if desired, so that the engagement of the contact means and outerconductor occurs just before the undersurface of screw head 24 makescontact with ledge 25. When the contact means 21 make contact with theconductor 16 a good ground connection is established because of thesecure placement of the two sets of contact means on opposite sides ofconductor 16.

Upon reading the foregoing, a person in the art will become aware ofmodifications which can be made to the above-described preferredembodiment without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.For example, the contact means need not comprise a series of discreteteeth. A single blade could serve as the contact. All such modificationsare intended to be included within the scope of the invention and theforegoing is merely intended to be illustrative of a preferredembodiment. The appended claims define the scope of protection sought.

I claim:

1. An electrical connector for a coaxial cable which contains an innerconductor. a dielectric surrounding said inner conductor, an outerconductor surrounding LII said dielectric, and an outer dielectricsurrounding said outer conductor, said connector comprising:

a connector body having a longitudinal bore formed therein for receivingone end of said coaxial cable;

contact means which face inwardly towards the bore. the contact meansbeing slidably movable in the connector body and adapted to be movedinwardly into the longitudinal bore to pass through the outer dielectricof the cable to make contact with the outer conductor of the cable; and

drive means upon a portion of which the contact means are rotatablymounted, whereby the contact means will be moved in a direction towardsthe longitudinal bore and into contact with the outer conductor of thecoaxial cable.

2. A connector as claimed in claim 1 wherein the contact means compriseteeth.

3. A connector as claimed in claim 1 wherein the drive means comprise arotatable screw.

4. A connector as claimed in claim 1 wherein the contact means areslidably mounted in the connector body in a bore which is generally atright angles to the longitudinal bore for receiving the coaxial cable.

5. A connector as claimed in claim 1 wherein the contact means havepoints at their end which are formed in a row which is substantiallyparallel to the longitudinal bore.

6. A connector as claimed in claim 1 comprising two parallel.spaced-apart sets of inwardly facing teeth.

1. An electrical connector for a coaxial cable which contains an innerconductor, a dielectric surrounding said inner conductor, an outerconductor surrounding said dielectric, and an outer dielectricsurrounding said outer conductor, said connector comprising: a connectorbody having a longitudinal bore formed therein for receiving one end ofsaid coaxial cable; contact means which face inwardly towards the bore,the contact means being slidably movable in the connector body andadapted to be moved inwardly into the longitudinal bore to pass throughthe outer dielectric of the cable to make contact with the outerconductor of the cable; and drive means upon a portion of which thecontact means are rotatably mounted, whereby the contact means will bemoved in a direction towards the longitudinal bore and into contact withthe outer conductor of the coaxial cable.
 2. A connector as claimed inclaim 1 wherein the contact means comprise teeth.
 3. A connector asclaimed in claim 1 wherein the drive means comprise a rotatable screw.4. A connector as claimed in claim 1 wherein the contact means areslidably mounted in the connector body in a bore which is generally atright angles to the longitudinal bore for receiving the coaxial cable.5. A connector as claimed in claim 1 wherein the contact means havepoints at their end which are formed in a row which is substantiallyparallel to the longitudinal bore.
 6. A connector as claimed in claim 1comprising two parallel, spaced-apart sets of inwardly facing teeth.